I don't know if this is the right subreddit for asking this, please redirect me if it's not.

So, I started reading Dostoevsky's Demons (translation : Pevear & Volokhonsky), and in the foreword, I met across this term 'liberal idealist' quite often, and I was not very sure if I understood the meaning clearly. For eg., to provide context, in the Foreword, we have phrases like: "Granovsky was an embodiment of the liberal idealism of the 1840s......"; "He ( Dostoevsky) himself had been a liberal idealist of the 1840s." , etc.

Therefore, I looked up on the internet for definitions, but to vain. So, if anyone could clarify me on that, I would be grateful.

Thank you.